Like most natural health advocates, I’m an avid proponent of supplementing with garlic for health overall, but especially for avoiding illnesses that affect the immune system like influenza.

Fortunately, people have been paying attention to natural health experts’ suggestions, as there’s a premium on garlic in parts of the world.

For instance, according to the Associated Press, sales for garlic have soared in Serbia.  Herbalists in the area attribute the increase in sales to citizens’ worries about H1N1 spreading, especially after the recent report that there were 22 million reported cases of swine flu in the United States over the past six months.  This is certainly a startling number, but it loses its shock value when put into proper perspective.  More on that in a moment.

While herbalists love the fact that garlic is selling out, practitioners of traditional medicine aren’t as smitten with the idea.  Speaking to the Associated Press, a virology doctor based in Belgrade said, “People must take this pandemic more seriously and focus on real prevention and medicine.”

Similar to the United States, officials in Belgrade are strongly encouraging citizens to get the vaccine as the number of swine flu cases in Serbia have more than doubled in the past month, going from 130 cases at the beginning of November to the current total of 270 cases.

If you’ve gotten a chance to read my Anti-Swine Flu Report, then you know that I don’t buy into this “pig panic.”  Yes, people should arm and protect themselves the best way they know how, and if they think that’s best accomplished with a vaccine, then that’s their prerogative.  But people shouldn’t be fooled into believing that they’re somehow basked in a wall of protection by becoming vaccinated.  They’re still at risk for becoming sick; some would even argue they’re even more at risk!  They certainly were the last time the swine flu was in the United States during the Ford administration, as more people died from the vaccine than from the virus itself!

But that was then, and this is now.

And health officials now say the chances of becoming sick after getting vaccinated are negligible.  Personally, I’m not convinced.  Mainly because I just don’t think this flu is any more virulent than the seasonal flu.

For instance, as cited by Michael Fumento, a science correspondent and syndicated columnist, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention says that there are roughly 60 million cases of seasonal flu annually.  The fatality rate from those cases ranges from approximately 0.06 percent to 0.24 percent.

Granted, every death from the flu is tragic, but you must admit that that’s a very low fatality rate all things considered.

But that’s nothing compared to the fatality rate from the swine flu.  Again according to the CDC, there have been about 4,000 deaths from the swine flu of the 22 million documented cases.  That amounts to a pecuniary 0.0182 percent.

One-hundredth of a percent of people sickened with swine flu has died.

Four thousand people dead from the swine flu, compared to the estimated 36,000 people dead every year from the season flu.  I sure don’t recall the media ever devoting the same amount of time and attention to the deaths resulting from the seasonal flu as they have deaths from swine flu.

At any rate, we could learn a little something from our Balkan friends.  They’re looking for an alternative to vaccines, and they’re finding it in garlic.  But there are other preventative measures you and they can take, especially if garlic becomes hard to buy in the States.

Some of the most important nutrients for flu prevention include vitamin A (15,000 IUs per day, unless you’re pregnant), vitamin C with bioflavonoids (between 5,000 and 20,000 mg per day) and zinc lozenges (take one 15 mg zinc lozenge every two hours at the first sign of flu-like symptoms).

For herbs, I always recommend Echinacea and goldenseal.  There are others as well, so for more information on how to avoid the flu—both the seasonal flu and the swine flu—take a look at my Anti-Swine Flu Report.

Sources
google.com
fumento.com